Few outside the architectural community talk about the beauty of Vancouver’s architecture. But it’s there: Look past the towering trees lining Vancouver’s leafy, pre-1940s neighbourhoods and you’ll notice a cacophony of architectural styles. Each of these homes was built in a slightly different era by a different builder following a different set of architectural ideals at a time when the details were paramount; the gables, the dormers, the handrails — there’s an authenticity to their variety that can’t be replicated.

Many of these were once home to large families, often with several generations living under one roof, which meant the neighbourhood parks were filled with kids clamouring over the playgrounds, families picnicking beside soccer fields, elderly couples walking their dogs in the evening.

Now, many of these neighbourhoods are shells of their former vibrant, diverse selves. The playgrounds are no longer full, the sidewalks are all but empty, the local businesses struggling. These are ghost neighbourhoods.

But this could be about to change.

In October 2017, Vancouver city council approved amendments to the Zoning and Development Bylaw that could be key pieces of the housing-crisis puzzle. Though still in their gestation period, once enacted, these amendments could mean owners of character homes built before 1940 could stratify their properties through a relatively streamlined permitting process. A home that once housed a single family could soon be divided up and sold as several different units.

If this gets the pickup it deserves, this could start a snowball effect. See, the real benefit of this housing solution isn’t just to the homeowners who will now be able to downsize in place, maintaining their connection to the community they may have lived in for decades.

The real benefit is to the “missing middle,” who could soon find new housing opportunities. While a character home on a double lot may have been priced out of a single-parent-led family’s reach, a thoughtfully designed unit within it might not be. Though a young professional couple may not be able to afford an impeccable pre-1940s home, they might be able to make a renovated portion work.

The benefits of revitalizing these ghost neighbourhoods will have broad reach; it will touch the infrastructure, the schools, the small businesses near these homes.

If it’s successful — and I believe it will be — Vancouver could act as a blueprint for other regions with historically significant homes, like New Westminster and Victoria.

In recent years it’s pained me to see beautiful old homes torn down, pulled into pieces and tossed in a landfill, an environmental travesty. Now, by dividing homes that may once have been destined for destruction into multiple units for multiple owners, they stand a chance of being not just salvaged, but restored. And better yet, repurposed.

I think of this approach as “sensitive densification.” Unlike new townhomes and condo towers, stratifying character homes will not significantly change Vancouver’s streetscapes. Instead, it will beautify them by preserving the rich tapestry of architectural details, the mature trees, the memories these homes hold.

Unlike some of the bigger-news densification plans, this doesn’t involve broad development on major arterials. Instead, many of these homes are on quiet streets with a calmer rhythm, where people can get to know their neighbours and live at a slightly slower pace. They’re of a more human scale.

Unlike the building of major developments, this plan doesn’t require additional infrastructure — slight modifications to the water, sewer or electrical setup, maybe, but for the most part these are already in place.

By densifying, this approach diversifies by bringing back to Vancouver’s ghost neighbourhoods people of all backgrounds, ages, incomes and family structures. This is thoughtful revitalization with the potential to make Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhoods as vibrant as they used to be and, by welcoming back the “missing middle,” more diverse than they ever were.

Jim Bussey is the founder and president of Formwerks Architectural and Formwerks Boutique Properties: formwerks.ca.

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